Pharaoh's Quest: The Curse of Amset-Ra
Pharaoh's Quest: The Curse of Amset-Ra is an upcoming animated film and Mustache Maniacs Film Co.'s first foray into animated historical fiction. It is the fifth film in Project U and is based on LEGO's Pharaoh's Quest building sets. Film Details * Release Date: Not Yet Released * Running Time: n/a * MPAA Rating: n/a * Director: '''Andrew Bermudez * '''Producer: Andrew Bermudez * Writer: 'Andrew Bermudez Plot Summary Contents currently confidential. Production History The idea of creating a film based on the Pharaoh's Quest LEGO sets is almost as old as the LEGO theme itself. However, since interactive adventures were being heavily explored at this time (a development that would eventually lead to both ''The Lost Ruby: An Interactive Adventure and Shady Acres Super Sleuth), the original version of the film was actually going to be a game, where players could explore the environment and fight Amset-Ra and his mummy army. However, as the technology to match the vision had not yet been fully explored, coupled with a eventual disdain for the concept, the game idea was scrapped by Summer 2011. However, in a 2012 survey, fan response showed that people were very interested in a Pharaoh's Quest-based film, with that theme out-performing all of the other themes in the survey. Because of this, work on writing a more traditional film adaption started in Fall 2012, most of which used the original script file for the interactive version. While this did cause some writing problems, since all of the information about player interactivity had to be written out, the first script was finished early in 2013. Filming itself wouldn't start until April 8, 2016, mostly due to complications with finishing production for Alpha Team: Mission Deep Jungle, but the script did see one major change just before then. Most people mistakenly think that Johnny Thunder and the Secret of Marco Polo takes place in the 1930's when it actually takes place in the present day (as in 2008), and have subsequently accused the film of not accurately representing a time period in which the film doesn't actually take place. To strongly clarify this and also to accurately represent 1924, the script for this film was rewritten again to make it as historically accurate to 1917 Beersheba and 1924 Egypt as possible. This consisted of script re-writes, extensive research, and accurately-built models. Even the poster was designed to evoke 1920's travel posters. However, as development lagged in the fall of 2017, the release date, which was set for December 22, 2017, had to be pushed back in order to maintain quality control for the film. The film's release was moved to Memorial Day Weekend 2018, then to July 27 before finally moving to November 9, 2018, just two days before the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1. It was delayed again to an undetermined date. Meanwhile, on January 5, 2019, bricksinmotion.com hosted THAC XVI, which was planned as another release time for a new Mustache Maniacs Film Co. movie. The film that was created for it, The Bartender's Tale, was cancelled after falling behind schedule, but as it reused sets and events from this film, it was announced the next day that The Bartender's Tale would become part of Pharaoh's Quest: The Curse of Amset-Ra and that this film would be released in the summer of 2019. After the re-release of Johnny Thunder and the Wisdom of the Ancients on March 29, 2019, it was announced that this film would be released on August 9, 2019. However, as that day approached, it became clear that the film would not be done on time. Originally, the film was going to be released in two parts, with part 2 coming in late 2019, but as the post-production process began to linger, the film was eventually delayed to an unannounced date later in 2019. The film's poster was likewise updated to simply read "coming soon" in place of an actual release date. To be expanded... Characters * Jake Raines (Michael Whalen) * Mac McCloud (Alan Hom) * Professor Archibald Hale (William Osborne) * Helena Skvalling (Teresa Bermudez) * Amset-Ra (Dylan Johnson) * Col. Hawking (Dylan Johnson) * Mummy Snake Charmer (Alex Hoxie) * Supervisor (Al Bermudez) * Chariot Driver (Andrew Bermudez) * Angry Peasant (Daniel Bermudez) * Sorcerer (Andrew Bermudez) * Dr. Hiram Aziz (Steve Hoxie) * Museum Director (Andrew Adkins) * Amir Samara (Daniel Bermudez) * Ernest Kerry (Al Bermudez) Locations * Cairo, Egypt * Beersheba * Scorpion Pyramid * Archibald Hale's Camp Credits * Andrew Bermudez - Writer; Director; Animator; Voice Actor; Editor * Daniel Bermudez - Voice Actor * Teresa Bermudez - Assistant Writer; Voice Actor * Al Bermudez - Voice Actor * Michael Whalen - Voice Actor * Alan Hom - Voice Actor * William Osborne - Voice Actor * Dylan Johnson - Voice Actor * Alex Hoxie - Voice Actor * Steve Hoxie - Voice Actor * Andrew Adkins - Voice Actor Tropes Pharaoh's Quest: The Curse of Amset-Ra contains examples of the following tropes. * '''Adaption Expansion: The film draws most of its inspiration from the official LEGO Pharaoh's Quest online comic and The Quest online game, but several other details not from the official story, such as the Battle of Beersheba, were also woven into the story. * Adventurer Archaeologist: The four adventurers, to varying degrees. While Archibald Hale leans towards the archaeologist side of the spectrum, Jake Raines is far on the adventurer side of this. * All There in the Script: Some of the character's names are never mentioned in the film. However, full character names are in the script, which was consulted for writing this wiki page. * Ancient Egypt: The film begins with a prologue set in Ancient Egypt, telling the story of Amset-Ra. * The Artifact: Why are there yellow and red round plates scattered around at the beginning of the Barrel Bar sequence and in part of the Battle of Beersheba flashback? Originally, Amir Samara's story and flashback was going to be its own film created for THAC XVI titled The Bartender's Tale, but this film was cancelled when editing began, as there was no way to get the film done on time. The yellow and red pieces were THAC XVI's mod elements, but there was no way to edit them out of the shots for their re-tool for this film. * The Bartender: The character of Amir Samara. * Deadly Dust Storm: Jake and Mac race through one on their way back to camp after retrieving the Soul Diamond. * Desert Warfare: The flashback takes place during the Battle of Beersheba. * Flashback: The entire Battle of Beersheba is this in this film. * The Greatest Story Never Told: Amir Samara's heroics are never recognized by anybody, mostly. It's subverted, since Jake Raines does thank him for saving his life. * Living Legend: Jake Raines is one for his adventuring and heroics. * Mummy: Amset-Ra and his guards are this in 1924. * Nepharious Pharaoh: Amset-Ra was one of these both before becoming a mummy and after. * Newspaper Backstory: The newspaper that Ernest has with him serves as one for Jake Raines, and as a catalyst for Amir's story. * The Punishment: Amset-Ra was cursed to live inside his pyramid for all eternity with his most loyal guards, turning them into the undead. * Real is Brown: To evoke the dry atmosphere of the desert of Egypt, the colors used throughout the film are within the realm of yellowish-brown. Dark red and dark blue are mainly used as accent colors. * Retired Badass: 'Essentially, Jake and Mac count, as they are veterans from World War 1. Also, Amir doesn't show any heroics in 1924, but he certainly has no problems talking about his time in World War 1 in a time when the armistice was less than ten years in the past. * 'The Roaring 20's: The film takes place in this era, minus the flashback and prologue. * Shown Their Work: The scenes set in 1924 use actual 1920's slang. Of course, no such slang is used in the WW1 flashback, as that takes place before that slang became commonplace. * Spinning Paper: One concludes the prologue and acts as a transition into the Barrel Bar sequence. * Thirsty Desert: Most of the film takes place out in the desert of Egypt. * Urban Warfare: The battle flashback takes place in the town of Beersheba. Trivia * Out of all of Mustache Maniacs Film Co.'s film adaptions, this one is the most faithful to its source material. * Throughout the Pharaoh's Quest product line's run, Daniel Bermudez frequently commented on how the theme was a blatant rip-off of The Mummy. When the script was first penned in 2011/2012, Andrew Bermudez took this comparison and ran with it. * The battle at the beginning of the film represents the Battle for Beersheba, a real-life World War 1 battle. * Despite its fantastic story, director Andrew Bermudez emphasized historical accuracy throughout. The uniforms for the soldiers were thoroughly researched, builds made just for the film were modeled after their real-life counterparts, and a dictionary of 1920's slang was consulted for writing Jake's and Helena's dialogue. * The first teaser for this film debuted at Chroniclers' Convergence 2016, the first time that Mustache Maniacs Film Co. has used an outside event to promote one of its films. * This film is Mustache Maniacs Film Co.'s first flagship film to not have a promotional tagline on the official poster. * The second trailer for this film was scheduled to be released on October 31, 2017, the 100th anniversary of the actual Battle of Beersheba. This second trailer had since been pushed off to a later date. Gallery WWI Soldiers.jpg|Concept art by Andrew Bermudez Jake Raines and Mac McCloud.jpg|Concept art by Andrew Bermudez Sailboard.jpg|Concept art by Andrew Bermudez Ancient Map.jpg|Concept art by Andrew Bermudez Camel Ambulance.jpg|Concept art by Andrew Bermudez Beersheba Courtyard.jpg|Concept art by Andrew Bermudez Beersheba Courtyard Painting.jpg|Concept art by Andrew Bermudez Title.jpg External Links * Official Web Page * Teaser Trailer * Chroniclers' Convergence 2016 Category:Movies Category:Animation Category:Project U Category:2019